As a fraternity man, it is often painful for me to see the ways that some members of my community treat women. Once I started paying attention, I noticed that nearly every woman I knew had a story, either personally or from a friend, of being treated violently by a fraternity member. What’s worse is that even though only a small minority of fraternity members perpetrate sexual violence, the vast majority witness it and choose to do nothing or even treat it as a joke.

All too often, members of our community perpetrate traumatic, violent acts against women and continue as respected and socially active participants in Greek life. I may not have been part of the problem, but I decided that wasn’t enough–last year, I began investigating how to address not only the issues of sexual assault and relationship abuse in the Greek community, but also the culture of silence and permissiveness that surrounds them. To that end, I created Fraternity Men Against Violence.

The mission of Fraternity Men Against Violence is to show fellow Greeks how to create a more positive fraternity culture that does not tolerate violence against women. We believe that most fraternity men are uncomfortable with the violent actions of their peers, but do not know how to respond and so stay silent. Perhaps they will be ignored or, even worse, laughed at? We will show this silent majority that they are not alone, and that the power to end sexual violence is in their hands. In my many meetings with fraternity leaders to date, I can personally vouch that this mission has been met with universal enthusiasm–for these men, it has been a tremendous relief to see that they are not alone in wanting to live in a more positive, respectful culture.

To make this desired cultural shift a reality, I have created a new officer position: the Men Against Violence (MAV) Coordinator. The MAV Coordinator will be an educational resource to his fraternity brothers on the realities of dating violence and what to do if they see it happening. To date, six on-campus fraternities–Theta Delta Chi, Sigma Nu, Sigma Alpha Epsion, Kappa Sigma, Kappa Alpha and Sigma Chi–have opted to join our coalition and have at least one MAV Coordinator in their membership.

MAV Coordinators undergo a rigorous selection process–assisted by the Center for Relationship Abuse Awareness–and are required to complete an eight-hour training through the Center. As of Jan. 23, six of our seven Coordinators have completed this training (the remaining Coordinator has pledged to complete the training as soon as possible and will work under the supervision of trained members until that time).  Following a model similar to the Peer Health Educator, MAV Coordinators will lead discussion groups and provide educational programming for members of their own fraternities. In addition, they will collaborate on larger initiatives as part of Fraternity Men Against Violence. We are currently working on our first campus-wide campaign in collaboration with the Inter-Sorority Council, to be unveiled in February.

Our MAV Coordinators are: Michael Flynn (Theta Delta Chi 2010), Pedro Gonzalez (Sigma Alpha Epsilon 2011), Duncan Fisher (Sigma Alpha Epsilon 2012), Sam Gould (Kappa Sigma 2011), Philippe de Koning (Sigma Nu 2010), Camilo Cabrera (Sigma Chi 2012), and Eric Clapper (Kappa Alpha 2011). For those wanting to learn more about our group, please contact any of our members.

Phil Nova
FMAV Chair
Theta Delta Chi 2010